Shoes, Sex Don't Mix In Philippines

MANILA — Iraq withdrew its consul general in the Philippines this week after a shoe saleswoman accused him of trying on more than a pair of shoes.

The hasty departure of consul Salah Eldeem Sulaiman, 41, was seen not only as a triumph for the country's fledgling battle against sexual harassment but also a victory against abuses of diplomatic immunity.

The Foreign Ministry had told investigators to tread lightly in the shoe case since relations with Iraq aren't good and the diplomat enjoyed immunity.

But Maryrose Manatad, 20, was adamant. Her formal complaint charged that Sulaiman had fondled her thigh and breast and tried to hold her hand while pretending to buy a pair of shoes. Two other saleswomen had witnessed his unsolicited caresses.

When the store's security chief allowed Sulaiman to depart after a brief interrogation, an irate Manatad went to police.

Her action was praised by the aggressive women's rights movement here, which is intent on erasing the image of Filipino women as sex symbols and easy targets.

"I wish there were more women like Maryrose," said a spokeswoman for Gabrielle, the umbrella organization for womens' groups.

Police quoted Sulaiman as saying he'd only been using his hands to catch Manatad's. "I touched the girl lightly and pointed to a pair of shoes. She must have misinterpreted this gesture," he said in his statement.

The Iraqi ambassador, Neama Faris Hussein, also defended Sulaiman. His explanation: "We (Arabs) sometimes use our hands to communicate. Sulaiman is a very good and religious man."

But Hussein also said Wednesday that Sulaiman has been tranferred to Amman, Jordan, as part of an effort to preserve "good relations between the Philippines and Iraq." The transfer was overdue and certainly not caused by wrongdoing, he said.

The incident coincides with another that has triggered a national debate: A panel of legislators is to determine when a kiss on the cheek isn't just a friendly peck but a sexual offense.

Filipino election commissioner Remedios Salazar Fernando, 41, alleged this month that she had been sexually assaulted by one of her six fellow commissioners, Monolo Gorospe, 61, who kissed her on the cheek in his closed office during a business discussion.

Gorospe, pleading an ulcer, is in the hospital. From his hospital bed, he sent a statement to the commission-which supervises elections in the Philippines-protesting that his peck on the cheek had been "just a friendly beso-beso (kiss-kiss)."

Women lobbyists and some legislators have demanded Gorospe's resignation as a way of avoiding a high-cost government inquiry. But the inquiry into whether he should be fired already has begun.